Drought research priorities for the dryland tropics

The meeting brought together specialists from a number of disciplines to discuss priorities for applied research on improving crop production in the arid and semi-arid tropics. The invitees were asked to focus on research topics with a high degree of promise for the short to medium term, with a particular emphasis on the application of existing knowledge or technology to the problems of the dry tropics. The meeting was organized into four separate sessions, which have been retained as the four parts of this book. Parts 1 and 2 deal with more effective means of analyzing the climate of dry environments and of selecting technologies to fit the expected moisture patterns. Part 1 considers methodologies for using climate data in conjunction with soil, atmospheric, and crop data to provide a quantitative picture of crop-available moisture in dry environments. Part 2 looks at the basis of, and at methods for, fitting crops, crop and soil management systems, and crop varieties to the specific environments in which they are the most productive and/or provide the greatest stability of production. Parts 3 and 4 consider the possibilities for modifying existing technology (management methods and crop varieties) to improve their productivity under different moisture conditions. Part 3 considers the analysis and design of crop and soil management systems, to make maximum productive use of available moisture and to reduce variability of crop production due to the variation in inter- and intra-annual rainfall. Part 4 considers the bases of plant adaptation to insufficient-moisture environments and examines specific possibilities for improving this adaptation in crop plants. (Author abstract)